Save us from the ice
by My Deliah
Summary: A distress signal reaches Konoha requesting help with eliminating a threat to a small village in fire country. As they arrive they are faced with a frozen, dead landscape from which the villagers cannot escape. Join as team 7 uncover the truth. NaruSaku
1. Chapter 1 Cold

**Save us from the ice**

**Rating: **T

**Setting: **Post time skip, recently after Yamato took command over team 7 while Kakashi was recovering.

**Summary: **A distress signal reaches Konoha requesting help with eliminating a threat to a small village in fire country. As they arrive they are faced with a frozen, dead landscape from which the villagers cannot escape; anyone who tried were killed. Join in as team 7 uncover the truth

**AN**: This is a rewritten version of an old story of mine. I've filled in gaps, and deepened it all a bit.

Chapter 1: Cold

"Welcome Konoha ninjas," the village mayor greeted them and bowed his head.

Sakura, Sai and Yamato bowed down him as a sign of respect, while Naruto proceeded to stare at the man with a puzzled look. The man bid them to rise with an awkward motion, and the four of them settled before him. Though he could not be more than forty years of age, he had the stance of an old man. He sat tired and crooked, the dark shadows under his eyes, and the wrinkles in his face made him look twenty years older than he was. His small eyes were watery and slightly uncomfortable to look into.

"Thank you for answering to our desperate call for aid," the mayor began, and he obviously did not intend to introduce himself anytime soon. "We would have send personal messengers, but unfortunately we are not able to leave this village." His voice trailed off and his back began to slope even more than before. He looked like a man carrying the weight of the world upon his shoulders.

"… We could only pray that our message bird arrived safely, and that there might be _someone _out there who could rid us of this nightmare…" the daimyo mumbled, putting a lot of emphasis behind the word 'someone'. The man seemed to lose himself in his own thoughts, and his complexion was dark and troubled. Naruto waited impatiently for the man to reveal the nature of their mission, but after a few moments had passed without the man showing any signs of returning to the present, his patience ran out.

"Na, old man, tell us what the mission is and we will take care of it for you," he exclaimed loudly while leaning forward supported on his hands. He smiled broadly, a cocky and confident smile, as if to reassure the man. Sakura's eyes blackened, and worried the mayor would take it as a sign of disrespect to interrupt his chain of thought.

"A-hahah," she laughed with an excusing look on her face as she violently pressed Naruto's face against the floor. "Please excuse Naruto," she apologised before hissing to her blonde friend. "Shut up you baka,"

The mayor turned his surprised gaze to the blonde on the floor.

"May I ask who you are, young one?"

"Uzumaki Naruto at your service old man! Shinobi of Konoha and future Hokage!" Naruto bellowed and casually ignored the death stare he received from Sakura. A dry smile haunted the elder man's face for a moment before it vanished again.

"We could very well use ninjas in your level of skill…"

Here Yamato found it suitable to join in the conversation.

"Excuse me, mayor-sama. We were not informed with any details of this mission, except that you need help with eliminating a threat to this village."

The daimyo avoided looking into Yamato's black orbs and stared at the floor beneath him.

"…Yes…" he paused and seemed to consider what to tell them next. "It happened four years ago that a stranger came here on one fateful night. Now we are prisoners here, bound to die from starvation and disease. No crops grow since the ground froze, no one is allowed to leave; if you do, only death awaits you…" His face twisted in what looked like agony. For the first time, team seven saw a broken man sit in front of them, a man who knew only death and despair.

"… And then she began taking some of the children" his watery eyes fell on each one of them. Sakura's mouth formed an appalled 'o' for a slight second before she recovered.

"Took some of the children…" Naruto mumbled silently. "Why?" His voice was calm, controlled. His complexion though displayed confusion, and something that looked like anger, disgust.

"We… do not know," the man replied tiredly, but his eyes fell to the floor, avoiding Naruto's azure orbs. Yamato felt a sting of unease in the pitch of his stomach. He got a sudden feeling that the mayor had lied, or at least kept something from them.

"I swear to you that we, that _I _will free you of this bastard" Naruto was still fighting to remain calm. Someone was taking children from their parents, killing innocent people. It bothered him, deeply. Decent people were losing their loved ones and their lives for no apparent reason. It was unfathomable.

The daimyo's face lit up slightly with what looked like relief. His smile was much more natural this time

"T-thank you, honoured ninjas! I will arrange for a guide to show you to the frozen domains in the morning, " he said and rose to his feet. Captain Yamato frowned slightly.

"Why not today?"

The mayor froze in his tracks and turned his face towards them, and for the first time since they arrived her looked them in the eyes, one by one. He was pale, nervous and something in his eyes held an uncontrolled fear. He looked like a dog with his tail between his legs, limping away from a fight.

"No, we must find residence inside before the sun sets. It is vital that you do not go outside after dark."

"Why?" This was the first time Sai had said anything in the mayor's presence. Being like he was Sai seemed not to have noticed the fear in the mayors eyes, and it rather seemed like the mans words puzzled him more than his demeanours.

"Because the night is _her_ time. The air goes cold you see, very cold. And if she is close it will go even colder, too cold for any man to live in. We must hide during the dark hours."

With one look, Yamato, Naruto and Sakura determined it was not an act. The way his eyes wandered around, and the slight shook of his hands witnessed that he was deadly scared. Sakura fidgeted uneasily and threw Naruto a glance. The look on his face was stern, and she could see how serious he was for once. It sounded like this enemy was truly someone ruthless.

"Even if ninjas like yourselves could manage in the night, no guide from here would lead you. No one at the full use of his senses at least. And if you are going to enter the domains of the lady of the ice, you will need a lot more clothing…"

"Who?" Naruto sounded confused. The mayor stared at him for a split second; his gaze had gained that haunted expression he'd worn when they arrived. Without a word he suddenly walked to the opposite wall and pulled away the curtain covering the wall.

"Her," he pointed out through the window. The wide, dead and frozen landscape outside seemed totally abandoned. Not a life-form in sight, not even birds. It seemed that all life there had ever been here had died, and that which had escaped avoided this place. The sun was setting in the horizon, and they could clearly se the massive mountain of ice that seemed to reach towards the sky in the far distance. The blood red light of the setting sun reflected through the ice, made it glow like an enormous castle of crimson glass. Every inch of the massive body of ice ended in needle sharp spikes, giving it a very hostile look. They had somehow not seen it as they arrived in the light of day, or looked at it, without really seeing it. How now seemed unfathomable, as it was enormous, but in the frozen surrounding it had seemed like nothing special.

"The ice woman," the mayor finished with a slight shiver in his voice.

"Now please," he pleaded to them. "Make haste to your rooms at the inn. Cover all windows, keep your fireplace lit, because it will get very cold soon. And whatever you do, stay quiet throughout the night," the mayor's eyes begged them to obey his request. Yamato bowed to announce their departure and they were just about to leave when the old man added:

"Oh, and don't try to look out into the night. No one here who has seen her has lived to tell."


	2. Chapter 2 A garden of frozen beauty

**Save us from the ice  
**

_Chapter 2: A garden of frozen beauty_

Despite the mayor's warning, Naruto felt himself drawn to the covered windows. He threw a glance at Sakura, who was folding her sheets on the floor, then Sai who sat bent over his sketchbook drawing something. Lastly he looked over at captain Yamato who was casually seated on the only sofa in the room. Yamato was reading a book with a rather familiar cover, 'Itcha Itcha Paradise', with a mixed expression of scepticism and bewilderment.

Naruto scowled, captain Yamato must have gotten it from Kakashi-sensei… or maybe ero-sennin had given it to him. Either way it was total rubbish, the book of course, and not really worth reading.

Since none of the others were looking, he slipped one hand outside the heavy drapes and brought it aside. That old man sure had seemed scared when he'd warned them not to look outside. This village had no ninjas to protect them; any skilled shinobi would be able to scare them into believing stories about a queen of ice. And he had promised he would help them. The cold outside had made the windows cover in frost, he breathed on it and the frost cleared off.

The sight made him drop his jaw in awe.

"_Are_- you guys… I think you need to see this"

Sakura dropped her blanket and stared at his back with confusion.

"What is it?"

Naruto's left hand clenched tightly and his brows furrowed. He slowly shook his head and then pointed out the window.

"Just look."

Sakura got up and peeked over his shoulder into the evening outside. Yamato gripped the drapes on the opposite side of the window and brought it aside. To their right, Sai peeked out through the second window inside the room.

Outside the frosty snow came creeping down the hills from the frozen castle that watched over the town. It crept forward amazingly fast, covering everything in its path, the ground, the buildings, everything. Swiftly it enclosed the few plants able to grow in the chilly climate, making them wither and die from its cold. The sky seemed to darken by the minute, and they all noticed how deadly quiet the town had become, quiet like the grave… Suddenly the glass in the window began to fog because of the warmth inside their flat.

"We should stay away from the windows until dawn…" captain Yamato claimed and retreated back onto the couch. "…Naruto," he added and gave the blonde teen a firm stare.

"But, captain Yamato, if this is all superstition and this Ice Lady person is a ninja of some sort, then how could it be-"

"We do not know that yet, Naruto. And the important question is not 'who', it's 'why'. Why someone would do this." Yamato corrected him with a stern look.

Naruto kept quiet after that. This team had dealt with ghosts before, fake ghosts of course, but the mayor of this village did not fear a ghost but a real person. Ice techniques… they had seen it before, or at least he and Sakura had, during the mission when they encountered Zabuza and Haku. But this was different somehow. Haku had used his bloodline ability to create jutsu based on ice, this new enemy just seemed to use it to freeze and destroy everything in its path.

He and Sai shared room during the night. Sai fell asleep shortly after he'd lied down, but Naruto could not sleep. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the old man before him, thin and worn with watery eyes that stared through everything. It was the sight of a man who had lost all hope, who had been depraved of his dignity, who had lost his children to an enemy he knew nothing about. A cruel, heartless monster that stole their children and their future, which left them do die slowly under her watchful eyes. The lady of the ice, someone who saw all the pain she caused, but felt nothing of it.

Monster

He pressed his eyes shut, his fists clenched tightly and shaking. He did not understand the cruelty, the unnecessary violence and bloodshed.

Why such a monster

How, how could someone do this? This enemy might not even be a kunoichi, so why would a normal person resort to something like this? He was not sure if he wanted to see the darkness that brewed in the black places of this persons mind, because it must be madness, pure wild madness.

Naruto had never hated, not even Orochimaru, and could not see why someone would ever hate. But this seemed like hatred… or, anger? But why murder innocent people?

He did not understand this, but he had promised that old man he would help them. That old man would not die a prisoner without hope, he would die free. He would never take back his word, that was his way of the ninja!

Naruto dozed off and slept calmly through the night. Only once during the dark hour did he stir in his sleep. A cold presence passed outside of the inn, a freezing cold swept through the houses as it passed by, a strong killing intent touched every citizen it came across. In his sleep, Naruto stirred slightly raising his hand and sweeping motion as if to wield himself against something…

A tall man approached team seven where they stood waiting outside of the inn they were staying at. The mayor had told them their guide would meet up with them there in the morning.

Yamato noticed the man was carrying a large trunk, and he seemed to be wearing more clothes than the other villagers who roamed the streets like pale ghosts. His hair was long and auburn, face stern and a long scar stretched from the corner of his eye down to his jaw. His walk revealed that he'd much rather be somewhere else at the moment, but his eyes told the opposite. A complex man.

"Greetings, my name is Tsuyoshi Kazuo," he stated as he reached them where they were waiting. "I will be your guide to the frozen domains," he finished and bent down to open the trunk. He took out and handed each of them a coat. Naruto stared at his with a confused expression, and then he noticed that Kazuo was wearing one himself.

"Do we really need these?" Sakura questioned. The man turned his firm, hazel orbs to her and locked he within his gaze.

"You can choose to go without it, but you will soon succumb to hypothermia and die…" he turned away from them without further ado and began walking down the road. "…As is the fate of all who enter the frozen domains."

Yamato hoped the coats would not hinder them too much and signalled to his team to wear them. They all looked doubtful, even Sai had a flustered look on his face, but did as the captain wished. A true ninja must evaluate every new situation and act according to his conclusions; this Yamato was very familiar with. Naruto pulled on his coat and buttoned it while they walked onwards.

Kazuo walked without speaking to any of them. He was different from the other villages, still strong… and angry.

The dirt road began to slope upwards as it climbed a tall hill. Team seven followed their guide as he began to walk up the road. There was a tension in the air that seemed to steal all joy from the faces of his friends. Naruto wished he could say something to make them smile, if only a little. But his mind was blank; he was never good with words when he needed them. At the top of the hill Kazuo halted and waited them in. His face wore the deepest expression resentfulness as his gray orbs swept swiftly across the valley below.

"Welcome to the frozen domains," he told them in a stoic voice as they caught up with him, and then froze. Naruto felt his jaw slacken, his mouth fell open and he let out an "are" in awe.

The entire valley below was dead and quiet. Ice and snow covered everything, muffling the sound of their voices. It looked like a garden, with tall hedges of ice that formed a roofed, frozen labyrinth that seemed to reach on for miles and miles until it finally reached the fortress, a massive body of ice that rose tall up into the sky. It looked like a curled up hedgehog, spiky and impenetrable with long nails covering its entire surface.

"Only I have made my way through her garden, and lived to tell the story. This is why I'm your guide today, that plus the fact that none other dare to tread these lands," Kazuo darkly explained before he began striding down the hill towards their targets residence.

The air dropped several degrees as they followed their guide into the depth of the valley, and they all pulled their coats closer around them. Naruto saw Sakura shiver slightly, but resisted the urge to put an arm around her. If he did she would beat him to a bloody pulp for sure.

Their guide, Kazuo stopped where the outer circle of hedges formed an opening. A tall arch rose above, made of ice pure and clear as glass. The moment Naruto laid his eyes on the arch, the sun broke through the clouds, and for a brief second the sunrays danced on the ice, making it sparkle with a newfound beauty. Then the sun slipped back into the clouds again, and the valley once again became dusky and unfriendly.

Naruto's eyes found the two statues on either side of the arch. Raised on pedestals stood two ice figures, crooked with their hands raised in defence. Their faces were images of deep agony, desperate eyes and mouths that gaped open in silent screams. They looked… almost real.

"It's a warning," Kazuo said gloomily when he noticed what the Konoha ninjas were looking at. "These two were our greatest warriors."

Sakura turned to their guide and eyed him with sceptically.

"But Kazuo-san, are you not a great warrior? I thought you said you were the only one who have visited here and returned?"

Kazuo walked passed the two ice sculptures and ventured further into the garden towards the labyrinth. He motioned for them to follow him.

"No," he said with emphasis. "I am no warrior, just a lucky fool." The bitterness in his voice shone through. His grip around his staff tightened, and then he shadowed his face with one hand and looked up towards the top of the tower.

"Her spies see everything. She probably knows we are here already. I got lucky and passed through unseen once… it will not happen twice I'm afraid."

He walked ahead of them with his back firmly turned to them, as a sign that he did not wish to discuss further on the matter. Naruto however was not going to let the matter go so easily however. He had now realised what made their guide differ from the rest of the village. He ran up to Kazuo and walked beside him.

"You," he said forcefully. Kazuo turned his face to him. "You are not afraid like the rest of them, why?"

"Because death is the only way we will ever be free from her wrath. So I welcome death as my companion and wait for the moment when it will release me from this curse."

"Then stop," Naruto's voice drifted to Kazuo. The blonde was staring down at the frozen ground beneath their feet, and the calm softness of the voice speaking was so unlike him that you could think someone else was talking. "Stop your waiting for death and prepare to live. I made a promise to the old man back there, to free you from this monster, and I will."

Behind them, Sakura smiled warmly. Most people never anticipated the strength hiding within Naruto; but when he gets serious, he has the power to change people, just by believing in himself and persuading others to do the same. Kazuo's face gained the expression of deep amazement as he stared upon the blonde teen. Then sadness suddenly struck his features.

"We are here," he stopped and motioned to the labyrinth behind him. It looked somewhat like someone had made a labyrinth inside a box of ice. The roof would prevent them from changing path by jumping over the walls of they chose the wrong direction. They would be trapped inside until they found a way out… if they found a way.

"Kazuo-sama," captain Yamato addressed their guide. "You have passed through here once before?"

The auburn haired man nodded his head.

"Yes, I know the way through. You must stay close behind though, it will be very unfortunate if we get separated."

And then they entered the frozen maze. First they turned right, and then walked deeper and deeper into the labyrinth. The silence inside the mace was pressing. Ice solid ice muffled the sound of their footsteps as they walked. First in line were Kazuo, then Yamato, Sai, Sakura and lastly Naruto. Further and further they went, without speaking a single word, without making a single sound. At one point Naruto happened to look to his right as something within the ice wall caught his eye. He gulped; a man was frozen inside the ice. His face bore the same terror that the ice sculptures had worn like masks. Naruto found himself wondering for how long the man had been in there, days, month's… years? In a hundred years from now, would he still be standing here, like a frozen sculpture, a reminder to those who passed by that a terrible monster lived here once?

They had been walking for hours, turning left and right enough many times to make Naruto's head spin. It felt like they were going in circles, and maybe they were. Kazuo seemed very sure of which way to go, but what if he was wrong?

Naruto had stopped paying attention to where he was walking, and without realising it, he had fallen behind the rest of the group. Ten yards ahead of him Sakura turned around. She let out an irritated sigh.

"Naruto you baka, hurry up!" she called to him. Naruto quickly snapped out of his thoughts and quickened his pace. When he only had five more yards to go, something shook within the depth of the labyrinth. The ground beneath his feet trembled and he tumbled, supporting his weight on the walls of the mace to prevent himself from falling. The rest of team seven and their guide were forced to do the same as the whole world shook violently.

A massive block of ice fell down between Naruto and the rest of the group, creating an impenetrable wall between them. The moment it stood in place, the ground settled again and stopped shaking. Desperately Naruto thrust himself against the ice wall and pounded it with his fists. He then backed away and formed a hand seal. A Kage Bunshin appeared and quickly they began forming a Rasengan. He thrust the ball of rotating chakra into the wall at full force. A high splintering sound was heard, and he was thrown backwards by the force, hitting his head hardly on the frozen ground.

Groaning and rubbing the back of his head he sat up and stared at the damage his Rasengan had done. The hole was large and circle shaped, but it had not been able to burst the surface of the ice on the other side. Before his eyes, the ice repaired itself, and within seconds the wall looked like it had never even been scratched.

"Naruto!" Sakura's muffled cry was heard through the ice. Naruto got up on his feet and walked to the barrier. He was able to see the shapes of his comrades, but this ice was not crystal clear like the roof, but foggy and dim. He put his ear against it and tried to hear the conversation on the other side.

"This is bad," he heard Kazuo say. "He will have to find his own way now, there is nothing you can do for him now."

"Naruto!" captain Yamato then called to him through the ice. He called back that he was okay.

"You must find another way to the centre, Naruto. Kazuo says there should be more openings!" he heard Sakura call. He saw the shape of Sai stand some yards away. The bastard had not even bothered to turn around when they got separated.

"Hai Sakura-chan, captain Yamato, I will meet you at the centre!" he called back to them.

He turned around and looked back into the maze. Which way had they come from? He could not remember… damn this was bad. Oh well, he would just have to pick a route and hope it would be the right one. Naruto began walking back the way he'd come, and at the first intersection he turned right.

An hour later he was feeling less perky however. Everything here looked the same, every turn, every straight line felt just like the one he'd walked through just before. He looked down at his hands, which were starting to become slightly blue. He was cold, and beginning to feel hungry. What he wouldn't give for a meal at Ichiraku Ramen right now-

"Hmpf," he uttered a muffled sound as he suddenly walked straight into something. A wall, he had walked right into an ice wall in a dead end… another dead end. Rubbing his nose with his hand Naruto looked up at the ice wall and cursed his luck.

"Wha-" he began, before a yelp escaped his lips.

He was staring straight into a pair of frightening, colourless eyes.

A short, forced scream was pressed through his throat before he felt a force field of some sort hit him. It travelled through his body in a rapid pound, like a heartbeat, all while he stared into those freezing eyes. Naruto recalled the feeling of cold before his consciousness faltered…

He woke up.

Instantly the memories came crashing down upon him, and he expected to be cold, frozen solid, to have perished before those cruel eyes.

Instead he felt warm and cosy where he lied on something furry. He pried one eye open, without knowing what to expect. The sight of bars greeted him, ice bars. He opened the other eye, and an enormous hall came into view. He sat up and noticed that he was wrapped in animal hides. Thick white fur tickled his neck and he was comfortably warm. Naruto turned around and saw that the hall expanded equally as big behind him as it did before him. It seemed that his cage was placed in the middle of the room.

Everywhere he turned, he was met with ice, glimmering like pure crystals and diamonds in the light that shone down from an unknown source in the ceiling. It was breathtakingly beautiful, but he felt worried none the less. This must be the residence of the ice lady.

Why am I not dead

A deep booming behind him made him turn in his cage. He saw one of the enormous doors open slowly. Each door must be thirty feet tall at least. He huddled in his hides, a quiver ran through his body as he was struck with an incomprehensible horror, a terror that was too big for his body to sustain, he was shaking, breaking apart inside. All this, in a cage of ice.

Then she entered, and the air became cold.

Pale and white as the snow, dressed in white robes the woman strode towards him in silence. Her eyes, those uncoloured eyes that had stared right through him inside the mace, met his without blinking. She walked to his cage, her expression unreadable, and there he sat, shaking violently, suddenly feeling like he was turning into ice on the inside.

"_Why have you come?" _her voice was mere a whisper, filled with cruelty and an uncontrollable wrath. Naruto could not look into her eyes anymore, felt his gaze being forced downwards to her chin, to anywhere where he would not have to look into her eyes anymore, the eyes that made him feel like he was dying on the inside.

A memory.

He saw the old mayor, the haunted look in his eyes. _"Then she took some of the children…" _The old man's words resounded through his head. The sorrow that stained the mayor's features, the villagers who roamed the streets, resembling emaciated, pale ghosts rather than people. Anger bubbled up inside of him, spite and rage that seemed to fuel him. Suddenly he was not cold anymore, a rustle of fire travelled through him as _its _power reminded of its existence.

"_I…_I have come to destroy you!" he called out. His azure orbs fixed on her colourless eyes, and he ignored the fear that tried to enclose him again. He was angry, no furious.

"_You are not afraid," _her echoing, haunting voice replied flatly. A tint of amazement snuck its way into her harsh face, but vanished before Naruto had time to realize it had been there.

"I will destroy you, with my bare hands," he growled furiously.

"_Why?" _she whispered slowly. _"You are not one of them. Why would you care?"_

"Because it's not right for you to torment and kill those poor villagers! You are destroying hundreds of lives, and I will stop you, not matter what!" Naruto was now screaming.

"_Poor villagers…" _the lady hissed, her voice was filled with pure hatred. Then her anger subsided and was replaced by a freezing cool. She was even more frightening now. _"…You cannot stop us…"_

Naruto tore his eyes away from her cold and fell down to her chin again. He noticed she was wearing a necklace that glimmered in the ghostly light. It was made of ice.

"They will rot in their cursed village, knowing I have taken everything from them… They will succumb to hunger and sickness and their tortured moaning shall echo through these lands…"

The ice lady smiled, a horrible, haunted smile that held no joy. Her eyes were glimmering blizzards that froze everything they touched. His skin prickled when she looked at him. Naruto was struck by a vast feeling of helplessness, a feeling he hated, a feeling he wished to forget and experience again.

"Nande… _Nande dattebayo?_" he screamed at her. "Why, why, _why?_" he roared, his voice trembling. He tried to suppress the tears, but failed and felt the tears sting the corners of his eyes. Those tears of anger, the anger that ravaged him. So much injustice he had to face, unable to help. It hurt so much, the failure, the feeling of being alone.

Her emotionless eyes just stared at him.

"Perhaps you never will understand," she replied, no longer whispering. Then she reached into his cage, and with a freezing cold hand, she wiped away the tear that rolled down his cheek. Her cold skin was uncomfortable against his, and his first instinct was to flinch away. But there was a smoothness in her caress that stopped him. It was hard to believe that a monster, who would kill without mercy and out of her own free will, could have such a soft caress.

A door in the other end of the hall suddenly opened almost soundlessly.

The boy who entered looked a few years younger than himself. He was small but not skinny, had dark hair and glimmering hazel eyes. He looked like-

"Intruders!" he called out to the ice lady who watched him with a freezing cool. "There are four more intruders in the labyrinth. One of them is Tsuyoshi Kazuo, the other three are like him," the boy exclaimed and pointed at Naruto. The ice lady's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"_I will deal with them," _her voice had turned into an icy whisper again. The boy nodded his head and existed the hall, closing the gate behind him.

The ice queen turned to Naruto, and he was appalled to see that there was no mercy in her eyes. She stood frozen on the spot for a split second, then her shape turned into crystallized ice in an instant. With a splintering sound the ice sculpture cracked and shattered into a thousand pieces, leaving Naruto alone in his cell. He felt terrified.

"Hey lady, if you hurt them, I will kill you for sure!" he called out to the empty room.

Feeling it was futile to scream into the open space he stared down at the floor instead. Everything in here seemed to be made of ice, yet it was much warmer in here than it had been outside. If there were more children here then it could be for their sake… but wait. Why was there a child here, and most important why did he look like the old mayor?

A distant, high-pitched scream echoed through the hall. It sounded like Sakura's voice.

Naruto began shaking again, praying to all gods there might be that the ice lady would not hurt his friends.


End file.
